Cotton Malone
St. Martin's Paperbacks
January 2017
On Sale: January 3, 2017
576 pages ISBN: 1250058457 EAN: 9781250058454 Kindle: B0140MQTP8 Mass Market Paperback / e-Book (reprint) Add to Wish List
What happens if both the president and vice-president-elect die before taking the oath of office? The answer is far from certainโin fact, what follows would be nothing short of total political chaos.
Shot down over Siberia, ex-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is forced into a fight for survival against Aleksandr Zorin, a man whose loyalty to the former Soviet Union has festered for decades into an intense hatred of the United States.
Before escaping, Malone learns that Zorin and another ex-KGB officer, this one a sleeper still embedded in the West, are headed overseas to Washington D.C. Noon on January 20thโInauguration Dayโis only hours away. A flaw in the Constitution, and an even more flawed presidential succession act, have opened the door to disaster and Zorin intends to exploit both weaknesses to their fullest.
Armed with a weapon leftover from the Cold War, one long thought to be just a myth, Zorin plans to attack. Heโs aided by a shocking secret hidden in the archives of Americaโs oldest fraternal organizationโthe Society of Cincinnatiโa group that once lent out its military savvy to presidents, including helping to formulate three invasion plans of what was intended to be Americaโs 14th colonyโCanada.
In a race against the clock that starts in the frozen extremes of Russia and ultimately ends at the White House itself, Malone must not only battle Zorin, he must also confront a crippling fear that heโs long denied, but which now jeopardizes everything. Steve Berryโs trademark mix of history and speculation is all here in this provocative new thriller.
© 2003-2026